The towering left-hander was surrounded by friends and family when he received the call to baseball immortality. Receiving 86.8% of the vote, CC Sabathia became only the third Black pitcher voted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame by the BBWAA on the first ballot. He follows Fergie Jenkins (1991) and Bob Gibson (1981).
Sabathia’s five-player class includes Ichiro Suzuki (99.7%), the first Japanese-born player to be elected to the Hall of Fame, and Billy Wagner (82. 5%), voted by the BBWAA, and Black baseball legends Dick Allen and Dave Parker were voted to the 2025 class by the Era Committee (formerly known as the veterans committee).
Sabathia’s election never seemed in doubt. He was well about the 75% needed on the public Hall of Fame Tracker. But the vote is never fully public and most players drop several percentage points from the public tracker. Carlos Beltran, but was trending about the threshold before the final votes were tallied at 79.8%, but failed to meet the requirement at final tally (70.3)%. Ichiro missed a unanimous election by only one vote, making Yankees legend Mariano Riviera the only player ever elected with 100%.
Sabathia has been taking his election in stride. He has been active on X and Instagram sharing his feelings about his world wind journey from Vallejo, CA to Cooperstown. The 6-6, lefty was a true workhorse in a game that has since diminished starting pitching. He finished his career with 251, 3,577 1/3 innings, and 3,093 strikeouts. Sabathia is only one of three southpaws – with at least 3,000 K’s and 250 wins.
